The 2023 Mableton mayoral election took place on March 21, 2023 with a runoff held on April 18, 2023 as no candidate got 50% of the vote in the general election. Aaron Carman gained the most votes in the first round but lost the runoff to former Chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee Michael Owens who became the first mayor of Mableton, Georgia in over 100 years.[1] Despite the runoff election being described as "historic", only 6,113 votes were cast and voter turnout remained low at 12.9% of about 47,200 voters.[2][3]
Background
Mableton had previously been incorporated as a city on August 19, 1912 but was disincorporated four years later when a flood overwhelmed its sewer system.[4][5] Mableton was the last of four proposed new cities in Metro Atlanta to have a referendum, the other three East Cobb, Lost Mountain and Vinings all failed to be incorporated as municipalities.[6] In May 2023, Brentin Mock of Bloomberg News described the city movement in Metro Atlanta as being "defeated".[6] Mableton being the only one out of the four to have a majority non-white population.[5]
In November 2023, the city was reincorporated in an election with 53% of the vote and a margin of just over 1,700 votes.[7] The majority of no votes were concentrated in the north of Mableton, where household income is higher.[8] Mableton was different in that the supporters of de-annexation were multi-racial and multi-generational while organizers of similar secession movements tended to be mainly older white residents.[8] Human resources director Mark Sette said it was a "power grab" to annex unincorporated areas of north Mableton to "pay for all of the projects that they want down there [in south Mableton]".[8] Thousands of people signed a petition to de-annex areas that voted no from the city.[9] Mayoral candidate Aaron Carman said that he supported the people involved in the de-annexation effort but stated that if the de-annexation efforts do not pass, Mableton needed someone that could "bring the city together".[10] State representative David Wilkerson submitted two de-annexation bills that would have allowed some areas to de-annex from Mableton but both failed in the Georgia General Assembly.[11] A compromise bill in response to the bills submitted by Wilkerson was drafted by state representatives Terry Cummings and Michael Smith but this also failed as it was not published in time.[12][11]
LaTonia Long (eliminated in the first round, endorsed Owens[14]), public policy manager and former chief of staff to state senator Gloria Butler[15]
Michael Murphy (eliminated in the first round, endorsed Owens[14]), business owner, chair of the Georgia Black Republican Council and former aide to Cobb County Chairman Mike Boyce[16][17]
Michael Owens, former Chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee (2016–2019) and cyber security executive[13][18]
General election
Endorsements
Michael Owens
Erick Allen, former Member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 40th District[19]
^ ab"Mableton City Candidates"(PDF). www.mableton.org. March 21, 2023. Archived(PDF) from the original on December 25, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.